Mattie Ree Neal (b.2001) is a native Nashvillian and attended Lipscomb Academy where she was chosen as Fine Arts Student of the Year in 2020. Following her graduation from high school that same year, and driven to be an artist, she embarked on an internship with her father, artist Michael Shane Neal. Having spent most of her life in his studio and in the studio of his mentor, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Mattie Ree has been devoted to continuing her artistic journey through study of history, great museums, travel, and study directly with living master artists around the world. She recently established a studio on the grounds of her home where she paints, studies, and teaches art to children and adults alike. Mattie also teaches with Drawing New York in Manhattan and will be on the 2024 faculty at the annual Portrait Society of America conference. 

               Mattie received the 2020 Scholastic American Visions Award for Painting with a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York. She also won the 2019 and 2020 Congressional Art Competitions for the 5th District of Tennessee. Her winning painting was on display for two years in the U. S. Capitol.  Also in 2020, Mattie received an honorable mention in the Art Renewal Center Salon, a finalist in the Portrait Society of America’s Members Only Competition, and was featured in International Artist Magazine in an article entitled “Creating New Paths for the Future Generation”. She was also featured in the Tennessean newspaper in an article entitled “A Rare honor: Nashville dad and teen daughter both have art in US Capitol”. Mattie Ree has successfully completed many portrait commissions and has most recently been included in the Select 50 of the 2023 Portrait Society of America International Competition. Her piece was juried into the top 100 of 3,075 entries. Mattie is a member of the Portrait Society of America and the Salmagundi Club. She is living in New York part time and has a piece in the collection of The Players Club of New York. Last fall Mattie was chosen by the MET Museum's copyist program to take part in a 9 week study where she painted in the gallery from Sargent's Wyndham Sisters. Mattie Ree plans to continue to pursue her passion for art and is dedicated to growing and making painting and drawing her life’s career.